A marketing funnel is a model of the path a customer takes from first contact with a brand to making a purchase. The classic stages are awareness (the customer finds out you exist), interest and consideration (they compare, read and follow you) and decision (they buy or send an enquiry). Some people drop out at every stage, which is what gives the funnel its shape.
Why does this model matter?
Because you speak to someone seeing you for the first time differently from someone who has been comparing options for three weeks. The most common mistake we see in audits: a business aims a ‘buy now’ message only at cold traffic, then wonders why it’s so expensive. The top of the funnel needs content that builds trust (this is where social media management works well), while sales campaigns and retargeting close the deal at the bottom.
How should you split your budget across the funnel stages?
There’s no single right split, but there is one rule: the bottom of the funnel comes first. That’s where the money is closest: people who already know you and are thinking of buying. Scaling the top of the funnel only makes sense once the bottom is taken care of (conversion tracking, retargeting, a polished website), because otherwise new traffic leaks out through the holes. When we look for where your funnel is leaking, we start from the data. We’ve written this up in our article Why marketing campaigns fail.
Related terms: lead, conversion, retargeting.
